It was enough to turn Mr. Irrelevant into Mr. Impatient.
After going to the NFC Championship Game in Brock Purdy’s rookie season, then to the Super Bowl the following year, the San Francisco 49ers were perhaps the most injured team in the NFL in 2024. On offense alone, they lost Christian McCaffrey, Trent Williams, Brandon Aiyuk and first-round rookie Ricky Pearsall for extended stretches.
Purdy has come a long way from being the last pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, but the quarterback might have gone too far last season. He admits now he tried to make plays that weren’t there, as the 49ers’ injuries and losses piled up.
“When I was a rookie, I came in and I knew nothing but the quarterback (package of plays),” Purdy said from outside the locker room after practice last week. “It didn’t matter who was out on the field with me — I was just going through my progressions and ripping it. I was a machine.
“So this offseason, I was getting back to that standard of being hard on myself, being disciplined, and obviously not trying to do too much.”
In the midst of maybe the greatest offseason ever — a new baby girl to go with a new contract that will make even her granddaughter wealthy — Purdy knew that he, like a machine, needed a reboot. After a storybook first three seasons, he left the 49ers no real choice but to give him that five-year, $265 million extension in May.
Purdy’s fairy-tale rise up the depth chart was always predicated on keeping it simple. Know your reads, anticipate, react and fire. But last season, he forced it too often, and his completion percentage went down while his interception percentage went up.
“I wanted to get back to the Super Bowl in one play,” Purdy said.
So at different points this spring, Purdy threw passes to George Kittle, Pearsall and Jacob Cowing; worked with his personal throwing coach in Jacksonville; and had an “open conversation” with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak and quarterbacks coach Mick Lombardi.
“We attacked my fundamentals, speeding up my feet, being better with my eyes and my mindset,” Purdy said. “Then we repped it out all summer and were intentional with it during training camp. Last year, I went into games thinking, ‘Hey, we’re down this receiver and this running back …’ and I wasn’t going through my progression the right way.
